Bulgaria

Geography of Bulgaria: Important Geographical Information about Bulgaria

Bulgaria is a country situated in south-eastern Europe, bordering Romania, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and the Black Sea. Its northern border with Romania follows the Danube river until Silistra. The land area of Bulgaria is 110,550 square kilometers, slightly larger than that of Iceland or the U.S. state of Tennessee. The country is situated on the west coast of the Black Sea, with Romania to the north, Greece and Turkey to the south, and Serbia and Macedonia to the west. Considering its small size, Bulgaria has a great variety of topographical features. Even within small parts of the country, the land may be divided into plains, plateaus, hills, mountains, basins, gorges, and deep river valleys. The geographic center of Bulgaria is located in Uzana.

Bulgaria features notable diversity with the landscape ranging from the Alpine snow-capped peaks in Rila, Pirin and the Balkan Mountains to the mild and sunny Black Sea coast; from the typically continental Danubian Plain (ancient Moesia) in the north to the strong Mediterranean climatic influence in the valleys of Macedonia and in the lowlands in the southernmost parts of Thrace.
Bulgaria straddles the Illyrian and Euxinian provinces of the Circumboreal region within the Boreal kingdom. According to the WWF and to the European Environment Agency’s Digital Map of European Ecological Regions, the territory of Bulgaria subdivides into two main ecoregions: the Balkan mixed forests and Rhodope montane mixed forests. Small parts of four other ecoregions also occur on Bulgarian territory.

Although external historical events often changed Bulgaria’s national boundaries in its first century of existence, natural terrain features defined most boundaries after 1944, and no significant group of people suffered serious economic hardship because of border delineation. Postwar Bulgaria contained a large percentage of the ethnic Bulgarian people, although numerous migrations into and out of Bulgaria occurred at various times. None of the country’s borders was officially disputed in 1991, although nationalist Bulgarians continue to claim that Bulgaria’s share of Macedonia, which it shares with both Republic of Macedonia and Greece, is less than just because of the ethnic connection between Macedonians and Bulgarians.

Bulgaria has a total border of about 2,264 km. Rivers account for about 680 km and the Black Sea coast for 400 km; the southern and western borders are mainly defined by ridges in high terrain. The western and northern boundaries are shared with Serbia and Romania, respectively, and the Black Sea coastline constitutes the entire eastern border. The Romanian border follows the Danube for 464 km from the northwestern corner of the country to the city of Silistra and then cuts to the east-southeast for 136 km. The Danube, with steep bluffs on the Bulgarian side and a wide area of swamps and marshes on the Romanian side, is one of the most effective river boundaries in Europe. The line through Dobruja is arbitrary and was redrawn several times according to international treaties. In that process, most inhabitants with strong national preferences resettled in the country of their choice. Borders to the south are with Greece and Turkey, the border with Greece being 491 kilometers long, and the Turkish border having a length of 240 kilometers.

The relief of Bulgaria is varied. In the relatively small territory of the country there are extensive lowlands, plains, hills, low and high mountains, many valleys and deep gorges. The main characteristic of Bulgaria’s topography is alternating bands of high and low terrain that extend east to west across the country. From north to south, those bands (called geomorphological regions) are the Danubian Plain, Stara Planina, the Transitional region and the Rilo-Rhodope Massif. The easternmost sections near the Black Sea are hilly, but they gradually gain height to the west until the westernmost part of the country is entirely high ground.

More than two-thirds of the country is plains, plateaus, or hilly land at an altitude less than 600 m. Plains (below 200 m) make up 31 % of the land, plateaus and hills (200 to 600 m) 41 %, low mountains (600 to 1,000 m) 10 %, medium-sized mountains (1,000 to 1,500 m) 10 %, and high mountains (over 1,500 m) 3 %. The average altitude in Bulgaria is 470 m.

The contemporary relief of the country is a result of continuous geological evolution. Due to that evolution there are magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of different origin, age and composition. Their formation began more than 500 million years ago during the Precambrian and continues till now. The Bulgarian lands were often submerged by ancient seas and lakes, some land layers rose others sank. Volcanic eruptions were common both on land and in the water basins.

The Danubian Plain extends from the western borders to the Black Sea. It encompasses the area between the Danube River, which forms most of the country’s northern border, and Stara Planina to the south. It covers the Moesian plate. As a result of the rock weathering processes the relief is uneven with flat rising grounds along the valleys and plateaus to the east. The plateau slopes gently from cliffs along the river, then it abuts into the low northern mountains of the Balkan range. The highest point is Tarnov Dyal (502 m) in the Shumen Plateau. The valleys of Vit and Yantra divide the Danubian plain into three parts – western, central and eastern. The altitude rises from west to east. To the north the plain has steep shores along the Danube or forms fertile alluvial plains (Vidinska, Chernopolska, Belenska, Pobrezhie, Aidemirska).

Hilly heights and plateaus are typical for the topography of plain. Most of the heights and all plateaus are situated into the eastern parts. There are 14 basalt mounds between Svishtov and the village of Dragomirovo.

The southern edge of the Danubian Plain blends into the foothills of Stara Planina, sometimes thought of as the Bulgarian part of the Carpathian Mountains. The Carpathians resemble a reversed S as they run eastward from the Czech Republic and Slovakia across the northern portion of Romania, swinging southward to the middle of Romania and then running westward, where they are known as the Transylvanian Alps. The mountains turn eastward again at the Iron Gate, a gorge of the Danube River at the Romanian-Serbian border. At that point, they become Stara Planina of Bulgaria.

Stara Planina originates at the Timok Valley in Serbia and run southward towards the Sofia Basin in west central Bulgaria. From there they run east to the Black Sea. The Balkans are about 600 km long and 30 to 50 km wide. They retain their height well into central Bulgaria, where Botev Peak, the highest point in the Balkan Mountains, rises to about 2,376 m. The range then continues at lower altitude to the cliffs of the Black Sea. Through most of Bulgaria, the Balkans form the watershed from which rivers drain north to the Danube River or south to the Aegean Sea. Some smaller rivers in the east drain directly to the Black Sea. The Sredna Gora is a narrow ridge about 160 km long and 1,600 m high, running east to west parallel to the Balkans. Nestled between both ranges is the Rose Valley, famous for rose oil used in perfume and liqueurs.

The southern slopes of the Balkan Mountains and the Sredna Gora give way to the Thracian Plain and the Sofia Basin. Roughly triangular in shape, the Thracian Plain originates at a point east of the mountains near Sofia and broadens eastward to the Black Sea. It includes the Maritsa valley and the lowlands that extend from the river to the Black Sea. Like the Danubian Plateau, much of the Thracian Plain is somewhat hilly and not a true plain. Most of its terrain is moderate enough to cultivate.

The largest basin in Bulgaria is the Sofia Basin. About 24 km wide and 96 km long, the basin contains the capital city and the area immediately surrounding it. The route through basins and valleys from Belgrade to Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) via Sofia has been historically important since Roman times, determining the strategic significance of the Balkan Peninsula. Bulgaria’s largest cities were founded on this route. Paradoxically, although the mountains made many Bulgarian villages and towns relatively inaccessible, Bulgaria has always been susceptible to invasion because no natural obstacle blocked the route through Sofia.

Relatively high mountains occupy the area between the Thracian Plain and Sofia Basin and the Greek border to the south. The western parts consist of three ranges: the Vitosha Mountain south of Sofia, the Rila Mountains further south, and the Pirin Mountains in the southwestern corner of the country. They are the most outstanding topographic feature of Bulgaria and of the entire Balkan Peninsula. The Rila range includes Mount Musala, whose 2,925-metre peak is the highest in any Balkan country. About a dozen other peaks in Rila are over 2,600 meters. The highest peaks are characterized by sparse bare rocks and remote lakes above the tree line. The lower peaks, however, are covered with alpine meadows that give the range an overall impression of green beauty. The Pirin range is characterized by rocky peaks and stony slopes. Its highest peak is Mount Vihren, at 2,915 meters the second-highest peak in Bulgaria. Further east are the extensive Rhodope Mountains.

A significant part of Bulgaria’s land is prone to earthquakes. Two especially sensitive areas are the borders of the North Bulgarian Swell (rounded elevation), the center of which is in the Gorna Oryahovitsa area in north-central Bulgaria, and the West Rhodopes Vault, a wide area extending through the Rila and northern Pirin regions to Plovdiv in south-central Bulgaria. Especially strong tremors also occur along diagonal lines running between Skopje in the Republic of Macedonia and Razgrad in northeast Bulgaria, and from Albania eastward across the southern third of Bulgaria through Plovdiv. Sixteen major earthquakes struck Bulgaria between 1900 and 1986, the last two in Strazhitsa on the Skopje-Razgrad fault line. Together the two quakes damaged over 16,000 buildings, half of them severely. One village was almost completely leveled, others badly damaged. Many inhabitants were still living in temporary housing four years later.